Cheap Way to Manage My Fans

[yooper08]

Thought I'd share this in case someone else has been looking for something similar or never thought of it.

Last week we were walking through Target and decided to hit up the clearance Christmas area. I was mainly looking at lights on the back wall but ventured down an isle to where the timers were, not really sure why, but I did. Lately I have been thinking of ways I could manage my insert and floor fans remotely/automatically, which included WiFi outlets, but the wife doesn't like smart home items due to security issues. They're also expensive for what I'm trying to accomplish. The stove temp controlled accessories also seem hit or miss in their effectiveness and can be just as expensive. Mostly I want to control the fans for overnight burns instead of running them until I wake up. But, I noticed that along with traditional timers where you set a schedule, they also had countdown timers. I had never seen these before (maybe I've lived under a rock or just never noticed them) but immediately thought about my fans, so I grabbed two and they were 50% off.

(broken link removed to https://www.target.com/p/westinghouse-countdown-timer/-/A-52311710#lnk=sametab)

The longest setting is 6 hours, but for me, that's perfectly fine at night. I can run the fans faster at night and it'll still keep the room warm enough for the last 2-3 hours when there's relatively little heat output and give me a warmer stove with better coals to load into in the morning. Should also be just as useful during the day while I'm working, sometimes I forget about the fans and leave them running too long.

Stove operation doesn't change at all, just that I use the timer to turn the fan on once up to temp instead of the fan control. Last night, loaded up around 10:30, set the fan shortly thereafter. This morning around 7:45 came down to a nice warm stove with one of the better coal beds I've had in quite some time in the morning. Raked the coals forward, opened up the air to burn them down over the next half hour, and set the fan for 15 minutes while we ate breakfast. Loaded up and now onto the 6 hour countdown.

 

[RandyBoBandy]

Where do you have the fans located and how does this equate to longer burn times or better coal beds?

 

[yooper08]

Already I've found I don't have to "play fire" (as my wife likes to put it most of the time) as often. As ridiculous/childish as that may sound, the pyro in me can't disagree with that description.

 

[yooper08]

Where do you have the fans located and how does this equate to longer burn times or better coal beds?

I'm not claiming longer burn times necessarily. I get a warmer stove because I'm not pulling as much heat off of it in the late coaling stage, which translates to a hotter, more active coal bed instead of charcoal lumps because of the additional heat retained. At least that's my logic so far, seems to make sense in my head. Having been reading here long enough, those with freestanding stoves and don't use fans seem to be able to do one of two things. 1) Wait longer during the coaling stage until reload; or 2) have a hotter reload point and spend less time getting back up to temp.

So insert is in the basement. Here's a rough sketch of the setup. This part of the basement is under the living room, dining room, and kitchen. There is no ceiling to the stairs, just the main floor ceiling, so it's open vertically. The stair/office wall only goes up to the main level floor, so there's a railing around half the stairwell on the main level.

 

[RandyBoBandy]

Got it Glad it's working for you. Every btu counts right?

 

[yooper08]

True story, especially last week and this week. I studied economics in college but probably should've done engineering, and worked in a Lean organization for a number of years...maximizing output, minimizing waste, and finding ways to improve are kinda ingrained in my thinking at this point in life.

Honestly though, its really about just killing the fans when the benefit really isn't there and keeping as many BTUs where I want them. Especially in the mornings, my hope is that it'll keep the downstairs warmer since the floor fan isn't bringing cold air down and the insert is just radiating and natural convection is taking over, keeping the heat there until I reload.

 

[electrathon]

A snap disc thermostat can be bought for about $5 or less and will do exactly the same thing, only much more accurately. It will turn on your fan when the outside of the stove warms up, and turn it off when the fire dies down.

 

[yooper08]

A snap disc thermostat can be bought for about $5 or less and will do exactly the same thing, only much more accurately. It will turn on your fan when the outside of the stove warms up, and turn it off when the fire dies down.

Meh, I'd say that's up for debate. I asked about these before on the forum and feedback I had gotten was that they don't work as well as advertised. The SBI OEM one is $83. The cheap ones involve wiring it, finding a spot for it. What I got for the same price is ready to go out of the box and will be more reliable in terms of when power is delivered instead of repeatedly switching on and off near the thresholds. Plus one controls my floor fan.

 

[electrathon]

I was wrong, just looked on Amazon, $2.61 and free shipping. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007Z7TZ20/?tag=hearthamazon-20
Two screws to the side of the stove and two spade connectors, so about $3.00 total and a few minutes. The one I have turns on once and off once with each heat cycle. The biggest difference is a thermostat will work properly no matter what, it relies on temperature. A timer relies on guesses and approximations. I do agree though, if you do not know how to install a spade connector, a plug in timer is a functional answer.

 

[yooper08]

A timer works on time. 6 hours is 6 hours, just like 100F is 100F, so both methods work properly to do what they do.

Wiring it is rather easy, I’ll grant you that. But if you wanted to switch between temp controlled and manual control, you'd need to factor that in as well. But that part isn't the hardest yet. It's not quite as simple as buy one, slap it on, and use it.

Temperature of the outside wall is also just an estimation of what's happening inside. There are many variables with temps, finding a spot, and thermodisc thresholds to match a spot that correlates to fans on/off when you want them. Just finding a spot to match a thermodisc could take several burn cycles to find a spot and ensure consistency to give you a predictable outcome of what you're looking for.

For me, I can look at what I've loaded and have a very good idea of how long it's going to burn and set the time accordingly as I close down the air. Very predictable, and for it's main use for turning off fans at night, works perfectly for how I want/need it to.

 

[KindredSpiritzz]

that is a great idea. Im going to install a timer on my stove and try it. thinking i can set it for midnight when i usually stoke up for the night burn, the fan can kick on high for 5-6 hrs while i sleep and then turn off as the fire dies down later. Same with when i leave for work. Brilliant idea !!

 

[yooper08]

Just to circle back on this one.

After a week of use so far, I consistently get much warmer reload points by using the count down timer. It makes me wish I had a spot for a freestander that I didn’t need fans for. Overall, I’d say this has worked really well.

What typically happens is there’s plenty of hot, active coals in the morning (or whenever I use it). I’ll rake them to the front and then turn up the air for 15-20 minutes to get it nice and warm, then reload. Within just a few minutes, I’ve got secondaries burning off the smoke as the splits are still catching. The way I did things before, the firebox was cooled off too much and spending more time bringing it back up to temp. A lot of the smoke I would send up on reloads now gets burned.

 

[HomeinPA]

My stove blower has a snap disc and works well. I did take a simple lamp timer and set it to run 15 minutes then off 15 minutes when want the blower running. It's on a 24 hour cycle and if the stove would somehow cool down to much the snap disc keeps it from kicking on.

 

[yooper08]

So basically a hybrid? So you have yours on 15 min, off 15 min and repeat?

 

[HomeinPA]

So basically a hybrid? So you have yours on 15 min, off 15 min and repeat?

Are you talkin' ta me?

Alrighty then, the lamp timer has a 24 hour dial that has pins you push in or out at intervals to turn it off and on. I just have them set for 15 on/15 off for the 24 hour cycle. You could do 15 on/30 off or whatever your timer allows. The blower is plugged into the timer and the timer into the wall.

 

[yooper08]

Right, so your pins are just alternating up/down all the way around?

 

[HomeinPA]

Right, so your pins are just alternating up/down all the way around?

yup - If your stove doesn't have a blower a cheap floor fan blowing around the stove combined with the timer works too.